As an author in Maine, I'm taking my love of literature and miniatures and morphing it into a new creative enterprise. I make miniature paper dresses from classic short stories and iconic novels as well as "Wee Folk" fairy dresses from natural elements from the woods and sea. With the help of my co-pilot a.k.a Jbyrd, I also make literary shadow boxes featuring scenes from the lives of famous authors.

Where to get out of the house and be social in Midcoast Maine

Trivia Night at Rock Harbor Pub & Brewery in Rockland

Whether you're new to the Midcoast and just want to find something social to do during the week nights or you're sick of being cooped up inside all winter, we've got a rundown of the most social happenings every night of the work week. Come with friends or come alone and meet new friends.

Vibe: The downtown hot spot just moved their Open Mic to Monday night to make room for more theme nights. Most of the acts are musical at this point, with a nice diversity of styles ranging from comical to serious. They'd like to open it up more to poetry and performance art.

Tuesday

The Drouthy Bear (Camden)Type: Trivia Night.Time: 8 p.m.

Vibe: This is a homey Scottish pub with delicious food, fantastic beer, great people, and a wonderful atmosphere for sitting by the fire. Trivia Night offers 60 questions in six different categories that change every week. Teams of four or fewer can play with a suggested donation of $1 per person. All proceeds to charity. Don’t feel like Trivia? They also have lots of board games available at any time.

Wednesday

Badger Cafe & Pub (Union)Type: Trivia NightTime: 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.

Vibe: The Badger Cafe & Pub has an open, neighborly feel to the restaurant and tiny bar (with outstanding craft brews). Anyone can drop in and play on trivia teams (up to five people per team) and it costs $2 per person to play. The winnings are split between the first place team and the middle place team. If you show up alone, you can either play as your own team or join up with a team that is short. As one player said, “Swearing is allowed and only sometimes frowned upon.” Call ahead for any questions 207-785-3336.

Vibe: Rock Harbor Pub & Brewery is Rockland’s only microbrewery and it's got a homey, pub feel where the audience can belly up to the bar while the performers do their thing. The crowd is wide-ranging, from late 20s to 60s. They offer a drum set for performers and one of their regulars can always be counted on to bring his stand up cello bass to accompany musicians. The gentleman who runs it can also play almost any instrument to accompany newcomers as well. The Open Mic is mostly musical, but they're open to any form of performance.

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Belfast Breeze Inn (Belfast)Type: Game NightTime: 4 to 7 p.m.

Starting on February 1 the inn is offering an adult game night with a different game each week such as Scrabble, Cribbage, Charades and various board games, along with a selection of soup, sandwiches salads, pizza and bar snacks along with beer and wine. Game Night goes until April 26. There’s a $5 minimum per person. Reserve your space by calling 207-505-5231.

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Hatchet Mountain Publick House (Hope)Type: Cards and CribbageTime: 7 p.m.Vibe: This cozy, rustic pub wants to offer a mid-week reason to get together and this is a great spot for folks who live farther from the coast to gather and play some games. Starting January 11, they’ll start with cards and cribbage and offer something different on Thursday nights.

Vibe: The upstairs of the Sea Dog is turning into a winter haven for locals with their new Thirsty Thursday Trivia Night. Johhny Tofani is the MC and Kristen. Every week it will be a different theme. $5 to play and teams can e any size. A cash prize awarded at the end as well as a “loser’s prize.” Check their Facebook page because once a month they also offer a “Paint Night.”

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Hatchet Mountain Publick House (Hope)Type: Darts and DiceTime: 7 p.m.

Vibe: See description in Wednesday’s listing. They’re considering a dart league, Texas hold'm tourney as well as grub and grog specials.

Friday

Myrtle Street Tavern (Rockland) Type: Karaoke Time: 9 p.m.

Vibe: This is one of Rockland's longstanding local taverns with a range of participants in their 20s to 40s. Nice, friendly people. The Open Mic sets are mostly musical. There's always a core group of talented people who come in rotating with new people who drop in. The music can range from bluegrass to country to rock and roll.

Vibe: Twice a month, LOUGH loud SMILE big, a cupcakes and custom party supplies store in Rockport hosts a fun evening of eating, drinking and painting!They provide cake pops, cupcakes and snacks, as well as water and coffee. You are welcome to bring a BYOB, if you'd like. They provide ice, wine glasses and openers.

They also provide paints and materials to create a masterpiece for $30 plus tax. Call to learn which Fridays they are offering this event and reserve your seat. 230-7001.

Vibe: Cuzzy's is the only local's tavern left in Camden with the unofficial motto of “The liver is evil and must be punished!” Held upstairs in the bar, their Karaoke Night has a pretty big following with its regulars, who even made their own Facebook page dedicated to it. The vibe is fun and supportive, especially in the case when someone without a whole lot of vocal training gets up to sing. Some pick goofy songs and others really nail it.

Restaurant/Bar Owners: For any additions or corrections, please contact the reporter below.

It’s a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it building, but well worth circling back around to. The Red Barn Baking Co., just on the Camden/Lincolnville town line on Route 1, is known for its insanely coveted baked goods, but the other half of the century-old barn is a treasure trove.

Inside the two-story barn, one quarter of the first floor is dedicated to the bakery. The rest of the space is for approximately 30 individual vendors who share it, featuring there an eclectic mix of upcycled art, refinished furniture, vintage repurposed housewares, textiles and original creations. Each “booth” has its own distinct personality —sort of like 30 micro-stores within a store.

“There’s a lot of unique talent here,”said retail manager Kris Brown.

Many of the people who have space in the Red Barn have full time jobs, but they go on search missions for unique items, are able to curate them and successfully use the space to display and sell them.

“It’s been amazing to watch what goes in and out of here,” said Brown.

There’s even gourmet food items, such as jams, jellies and sauces from Northwoods Gourmet Girl and the Maine Chef near the front entrance.

“From what I understand, this barn was an antique place for 40 years,” said Brown. “I’ve had several people come in and tell me about a restaurant that used to be opposite the road from this place so it’s well known.”

Co-owners Katie Capra and Dale Turk originally purchased the large barn in 2014 with the intent to just sell Capra’s baked goods.

“For the first year we were open, the other half of the first floor and second floor was just sitting open and empty,” said Capra. “Knowing that it used to be an antique store, we thought ‘why not make it one again and kick it up a notch?’ Not only would it support local people, but it would serve as a draw for the bakery.”

The idea and investment paid off and the first year of the marketplace, has been very successful. “The marketplace has definitely grown along with the bakery and we’ve been pleasantly surprised,” said Capra. “We’re always keeping our eyes and ears open for new ideas to do with it.”

For the holiday season, the biggest sellers have been homemade wreaths and vanilla candles. For people who love shopping local and supporting locals, it’s a place worth checking out.

“The energy is here is amazing,” said Brown. “Positive people, all around.”

ROCKLAND — Richard Allen is a wanderer. Having grown up in Thomaston and served in the army, he spent his youth traveling through Europe, and working as a painter and sculptor all over the country, including a stint in San Francisco, before heading back to his home state.

His six-foot-tall driftwood horses and moose sculptures embody so much of his free-range aesthetic. Their “muscles” are made from bleached bits of knobby driftwood he collects on beaches. Currently, a “herd” of them stand on the lawn of Michael Good Gallery in Rockport.Allen doesn’t have a studio, representation or a website and prefers to use his Rockland backyard as a scrap pile for his latest creations.

“I’ve been doing this for 40 years,” he said, unveiling another piece under a tarp in his yard. “I’ve done hundreds of these horses all over the country. I love the serenity of working on it as the piece grows.”

One day while playing accordian on the street in Camden, he happened to see one of his driftwood moose riding in the back of someone’s pick up truck. A woman standing next to him saw it as well and remarked, “‘Wow, I’d love to know who the artist of that thing is, I’d love to buy one.” And Allen turned to her and said, “Hello, Madam. You’re talking to him.’”

The horses and moose take several months to create. He spends several days a week combing beaches and inland areas for driftwood, which is getting harder to come by he admits.

“Everybody is taking it off the beaches,” he said. “But, it’s not easy, you’ve got to be determined.”

Once assembled, he covers every inch of the pieces with sealant so that they can withstand the elements year after year.Allen used to work in oil paintings, but found the competition to be too much.

“Every artist has a certain style and I wouldn’t say these sculptures are for everybody but I don’t really have the competition for these,” he laughs.

Allen does other animal sculpture work as well including wood-carved pigs and he was commissioned to make the giant iconic lobster that sits in front of Claws, the Rockland lobster shack on Route 1.

While Allen heads down to Florida for the winter to work on some more pieces his herd of moose and horses will remain all winter on the lawn at Michael Good Gallery.

Josh Gerritsen, a professional photographer and director of a new Midcoast-based movie, Island Zero, is excited to be working in Maine on his first movie. That his mother, best-selling thriller novelist Tess Gerritsen, is involved is no coincidence — she wrote the screenplay.

“Two summers ago, I was weeding the garden with my mom and out of the blue she said, ‘We should make a horror movie together,’” said Josh Gerritsen.You know, the typical things a mom and son chat about.“And I didn’t know that at the time but she’d grown up watching horror films,” continued Gerritsen. “It just never came up in conversation. I’ve loved horror movies since I was a kid. Zombies are the most fun, but aliens are the most scary. I think of the movie Alien as a reference film for Island Zero because it was so beautifully done with such unlikely heroes. Just these blue collar workers who happen to be just doing their jobs set in the future.”

Island Zero is set 40 miles off the coast, on the isolated (and fictionally named) Tucker Island. “For some unknown reason, the power cuts out, the ferry stops running and people start to die in these gruesome and mysterious ways,” said Gerritsen. “The townspeople have to get together to figure out who or what is killing everybody. The people who go for help never come back. No one on the island can reach anyone on a radio and they are trapped.”

It’s an ensemble film with five main characters. Laila Robins, from the Showtime show “Homeland” is the most well known of the cast.

And although Tess Gerritsen wrote the script, this is not her first screenplay. In 1993, she co-wrote the story and screenplay for Adrift, which aired on CBS as Movie of the Week.

Josh Gerritsen also has a background in documentary filmmaking, but this is his first foray into feature films. “I’m drawn to the slow building tension, not the monsters that just leap out at you, but something that builds to terrifying,” he said.

He moved back to Maine three years ago after living in New York City. Having grown up in Maine, he, like so many people, felt the draw to move back. “After high school, I said what most kids say, ‘I’m getting out of here; it’s boring. But, after spending time in New York, I realized there is kind a magic here. For the Midcoast area, there’s so much culture flowing in. You can be in Maine and all of the culture is surrounding you.’”

Mariah Klapatch, a Camden native and longtime friend of the Gerritsens, is producing the film, which has a self-financed budget of up to $300,000.

“Mariah’s a third generation Mainer,” said Gerritsen. “We knew it was going to be a financial risk, but we wanted to make something that reflected Maine. The tax incentive is less than in Massachusetts, and even though we could have shot there, that’s less important than shooting in the state that we love.”

The film, not surprisingly, has already gotten built-in community support. The majority of the cast and crew are also from Maine. “If we were an LA cast and crew that just flew in and asked the locals can we shoot at your diner? Can we shoot at your inn? It would be challenging,” Gerritsen said.

At the time of our interview, Gerritsen and the crew had only been shooting for a week in the Midcoast. Their locations included a doctor’s office, Camden Harbor, Rockport Harbor and the Swan House, a Camden inn, as well as at a house near Megunticook Market. We met the night before the crew was supposed to spend three consecutive 12-hour days shooting on Islesboro.

“Most of the Islesboro shoot will be at Durkee’s General store, a combined diner and general store,” said Gerritsen. “When you see these scenes, this is when the citizens of the island start to become really concerned, you’ll see this shift in behavior.”

The shoot is only supposed to last 18 days, until the end of March, and finished sometime in September. For Gerritsen, it’s been nothing but a good experience so far. “It honestly couldn’t have gone better,” he said. “Our crew is amazing and our cast is just nailing their performances.”

Customers and staff recall unforgettable times at Cappy’s Chowder House

CAMDEN — Imagine sitting at Cappy’s downstairs bar on a regular evening, nothing special, just a night you happened to pop in for a pint, when John Travolta walks in. First, you’re thinking, this can’t be real. There’s a look of concern on his face as he approaches you. “Hey, does anybody here happen to know where a veterinarian is?”

You’re now thinking, “OK, he just came from his house on Islesboro and one of his animals is sick.”

You try to give him some helpful suggestions of vets in the area, as does everyone sitting around at the bar.Travolta’s straight face now breaks into a grin.

“Good, because these puppies are sick,” he says, flexing his biceps and giving each arm a kiss.

True story. Ann Flagg Campbell, a bartender who worked at Cappy’s Chowder House in 2014-2015 recalls: “It was hilarious, the funniest thing ever. Everybody loved it because it made him so real, down-to-earth and personable. He was the friendliest guy. He’d talk to anybody.”

Travolta was one of a few celebrities who stopped by Cappy’s Chowder House in its 37-year run. Former bartender Duncan Lockie (who made a mean margarita) had another funny story.

“Some years ago, John Travolta came in with Cal Ripken and friend on a quiet, chilly December afternoon with their own bottle of fancy red wine. They sat down at Table 2 and asked very politely whether it was OK to ‘bring their own’ and could they have some of our ‘great Happy Hour popcorn.’ Of course they could! They didn't order anything else and their bill, quite naturally, came to zero. They stayed for about an hour and after they left, there on the table was a $30 cash tip.”

Flagg Campbell said: “I’ve been in the restaurant industry for 25 years and that was, by far, the tightest knit group of people I’ve ever worked with. It was really a family there. In our off time, we’d go to one another’s birthday parties. If someone got sick, we’d all get together and bring them food or visit them at the hospital. ”It was clear how much Cappy’s staff enjoyed their customers.

Server Kimberly Lockie said: “I worked at Cappy's for six years. I must say there's nothing better than bringing a kid a Giggle Meal for the first time. Sometimes the big kids enjoyed a fun straw in their margarita or a mermaid in their martini. It was a very rewarding job at times.”

Graphic designer Maggi Blue recalls her fleeting days as a server.

“When I worked there in college, I remember being often hyped up on espresso that Big John would make me (I was underage, so this was my vice while working). While working stupid busy weekend days/nights, I would get the question (a la tourist speak) ‘Where is Bangor’ to which I would respond ‘Bang-er, I didn't even know her.’ One never quite knew if the table of tourists would find that funny. It was always a gamble.”

Our own editor Lynda Clancy remembers it as the only job she’s ever held in which she got fired. “I was 17 the summer of 1977, living with my boyfriend at the campground and needed a job,” she said. “I got the breakfast shift. It was the old Cappy’s with the breakfast bar. One morning, all the fishermen and workmen were coming in and in my little apron, I filled the giant coffee maker with water and poured it through. Nothing was happening, so I poured through another. It went all over, everywhere. The floors, counters, everywhere. I was fired the next day.”

Just like Cheers, the fictional neighborhood bar in Boston, Cappy’s was the type of corner bar that drew its Norms and Cliffs. One such beloved customer who passed away in 2012 was Terry Voisine, a regular, who could always be found with a “low brow beer and a highbrow book” in front of him. “He came in all the time and was always reading at the bar,” said Campbell Flagg. “Whenever we did our own personal fundraising efforts to help one of our staff or customers, Terry was always the first one to give or offer help.”

Customer Rai Burnham had a memory that forever changed her view of her mother.

“When my mother and her partner visited me two years ago, I took them to Cappy's on their first night in town. My mother, who never eats dessert, decided to splurge and have the giant brownie sundae. None of us were prepared for the epic enormousness of what she had ordered. My mom is 5'1'. she had to stand up to eat it.”

We’re going to miss the free popcorn and hot wings, the Crow’s Nest and Deck Munchies, Girls’ Nights and after work gatherings, but mostly we’re going to miss the people who worked there and saw us as their “regulars.” Goodbye Cappy’s. We’re sorry to see you go.

If you’re one of those people who checks the same five websites every morning with your cup of coffee, it might be time to get your brain in gear for whatever you plan to accomplish in 2016. The top resolutions for people in 2015 were: Losing weight, getting organized, spending less, enjoying life and learning something exciting.

Here are five websites to help you learn something new (and they’re free so you’re spending less.) See how I worked that in?

You’ve got your tickets and your passport, but now you need to say “Please bring me my umbrella cocktail” in another language. This website allows you to practice a language you’re rusty in, or attempt to learn a new one. I did a beginner lesson in French and then tried one in Irish Gaelic and I liked the way it felt like a game, not like a language lesson. A vocal translator accompanied each sentence, allowing me to practice pronunciation. You can create a profile to save your progress and even set your daily goal of mini lessons ranging from “Basic” to “Insane.”

I have to say, I love this website. It keeps you honest. It’s a free online calorie counter and diet plan. It’s not rocket science, it’s just science. You lose weight by tracking your caloric intake. Because, as you know, those umbrella cocktails have a way of sneaking up on the scale. When you create a profile, which you can make private or share publicly if you want some support from fellow pals, you begin to slowly train your brain on what healthy foods (and fast foods) you can choose each day. When you hit your daily goals, it feels like an accomplishment and motivates you to keep it up.

Ugh.... January to April. The pervasive feeling if you’re not an outdoor person in the winter is that there’s nothing to do. But, you don’t just have to binge on Netflix this winter, because this is very cool site that taps into your creative interests. Writing, Photography, Culinary, Design, Business, Film, Fashion, Crafts and DIY—there are more categories to get that right hemisphere of your brain cranking with bite size (one hour) videos that show you how to get better at a particular skill.

Additionally, you can get real project feedback, participate in online discussions and read class notes from other students. I love that the app also works on your phone or your tablet.

How is it possible in the age of exorbitant college costs these days to get a Harvard-level education and not pay a dime? With this website, you can get a English grammar and essay class from UC Berkeley, an Intro to Computer Science class from MIT, a Global Hospitality course from Cornell and way more. This free, nonprofit and open source online learning site allows you to take courses in in computer science, languages, engineering, psychology, writing, electronics, biology, or marketing. They also offer “verified” certificates (for a fee) for people who want to use their completed courses toward a college degree. Hey, beats paying thousands of dollars at a community college for the same thing.

Trello is perfect for people are constantly smacking their foreheads and saying ‘D’oh!” because they can’t keep it all straight in their minds. Since I typically organize with Post-it Notes, I really like this easy- to-navigate website (and apps for your phone and tablet). It’s set up as drag-and-drop virtual Post-It Notes, whatever your daily to-do lists are, from bill paying, studying, work and personal development goals to a shareable board for ideas and tasks with your coworkers. Want to see inspiration on how to customize it for your life or profession? Check it out here. Happy New Year everyone!

Got Nog? The wood-fired pizza restaurant Meanwhile In Belfast sure does. They’ve created a rum and sherry-infused homemade eggnog recipe for the holidays that will knock an elf of the shelf.

Clementina Senatore, co-owner and chef, created a modified version of the cocktail, which she adapted from French chef Frederic Le Bordays’ famous recipe, calling it the Eggnog Winter Sherry Flip.“It’s an interpretation of his recipe. He does his with cognac, but I do mine with rum,” she said. “And we make the eggnog from scratch.”The sherry used in this drink is Luxardo, which Senatore said can be found in any liquor store. “This is our most popular brunch drink,” said Senatore. “Some people will just sip this over the course of a half hour.”The Eggnog Winter Sherry Flip is a fairly easy cocktail to layer together and when done, Senatore tops it with a dash of fresh ground coffee. Because the eggnog is made from scratch, the taste is slightly sweet and creamy, not thick, like store bought eggnog. The first sip is coolly fresh with the warm hints of rum and sherry below. And the bite of coffee grounds rounds it off. Why not start off your Christmas morning with this drink?To make this at home, watch our accompanying video. The recipe also follows below.The Eggnog Winter Sherry Flip

1 ounce Mount Gay

1 ounce Luxardo

½ ounce Contratto Vermouth Bianco

½ ounce Agave

½ ounce heavy cream

1 pinch of clove and cinnamon

1 garnish of orange peel

1 organic egg

Shake (but add the ice last!) and pour into a cocktail glass. Garnish with fresh ground coffee.To see all of our past “What’s In That Cocktail” series (with video!), check out our “Iconic Cocktails” resource page: The best craft cocktails in the Midcoast

One day in 2009, while waiting for his partner to get ready so they could go to a holiday party, Joshua Bodwell, Maine Writer’s and Publisher’s Alliance executive director, was just idly thumbing through his bookcase, when he had the idea to come up with a “Baker’s Dozen” list of books that resonated with him in that past year.

“I read the year-end list that the major publishers put out, but I think they can be kind of anxiety-producing,” he said. “I didn’t want to put together something that parroted a New York Times Top 10 bestseller list, which can make you feel like ‘Oh My God, I haven’t read this, I haven’t read that...’ and those lists are made largely by people who read for a living. With my list, I wanted it to be more organic, a little more thoughtful looking back on what I read and why I cared about it.”

Recalling a Stephen King quote he’d read in Entertainment Weekly, Bodwell said: “He had this great line about how there’s buzz and then there’s hype. Buzz is sort of like seeing your friend in the grocery store and you have to gush about a book or a movie. Hype is who’s got the most pop-up ads and billboards promoting the book. He was making a case for buzz.”

Friends and family responded so well to Bodwell’s annual book list that he’s been doing it ever since. He just released his latest “Baker’s Dozen” recommendations and more than a few Maine writers have made the list. The interesting thing is that not every book he chooses has just been released. “For example, I just read John McPhee’s Oranges, which came out in 1967,” he said. “To me, this list is truer to what people’s reading lives are like.”

We asked him to provide five that fit the following categories. His descriptions come from his blog.Funniest

The State We’re In: Maine Stories by Ann BeattieFrom the mordant humor of “The Little Hutchinsons” to the sly warmth of “Yancey” in The State We’re In: Maine Stories, Beattie remains a master storyteller I so admire as she continues to stretch out and evolve.Most poignant

Our Souls at Night by Ken Haruf(Knopf, 2015) I read Our Souls at Night with the sad knowledge it was the last novel Kent Haruf completed before his passing in late 2014. From the first page, Haruf’s already spare style is stripped to its very essence.Most representative of Maine

Closer All the Time by Jim NicholsCloser All the Time traces the lives of damaged vets, good-hearted drunks, clam poachers, broken boxers, damaged young boys, prop plane pilots, husbands and wives, single women, and others. They are all, each in their own way, people like the rest of us who struggle profoundly to understand their place in the world.Newest voice

Love the Stranger by Jay DeshpandeDeshpande was a new discovery for me this year. The poetry in this debut collection reveals a rare combination of great intelligence and linguistic skill filtered through a big, generous heart. Breakout shining star

After the Parade by Lori OstlundOstlund is a writer of great humanity and has a gift for infusing the novel’s sometimes nearly unbearable sorrow with laugh out loud humor.To see more of Bodwell’s book picks visit his blog Bodwell’s Baker’s Dozen or check out the winners of the 2015 Maine Literary Awards.